New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-05-25

ana ra1neQ IN rivers, and 1t ralned the
next day, and it rained till it had rain
ed Week-a long, dreary week that
bade fair to end only in deluge. And
on Saturday the sun came out warm;
and when I looked, the crocuses
bloomed under the windows, and
Thomas said it was very like the May
flowers We're opened in the woods, il
anybody could get to them for the
roads all being under water, although
the river was still locked in solid ice
from shore to shore. And in the late
afternoon OF the second day OF this
same sweet sunshine and south wind.
as we sat there, Jane and I, Mario
ran in and said there was water in the
cellar, as much as six inches.
s"That is nothing" said I. 'sI should
think there would be, after such q
melting OF snow and such a raining of
torrents
Its more likely it's the land suck
ing up the river, miss, said Maria.
s'The rivers just raging full under it's
icecoat, shouldn't wonder, and is
letting itself out through the land"
And as she spoke there came a. great
shock and thrill, a rumble, a roar,
and a mighty burst of sound.
Great mercy, miss" cried Jane,
tit's the ice cracking and rending from
shore to shore. I never heard the like
before, many springs as I've lived be-
side it," And before she had done
speaking the sound came again-the
sound OF great guns, the trembling of
an earthquake.
S'1t is an earthquake" said I. cit
must be. But earthquakes up here
don't amount to anything"
THAT'S no earthquake" cried Jane.
And then we sat there an hour or
more, looking out on the river, and
listening to the sounds, and wonder
ing, and telling stories ofearthquakes,
and hardships, and what not, curd-
ling our blood as we talked. And at
last Thomas came in; he had been
down the lane to the highway, and a
person who had come from up coun-
try had told him that the freshet W as
on the river, and the high water had
carried away Ford's mills, a dozen
miles above us.
"But how can it do that?" said I.
Chow can there be freshet where it's
all ice?"
"Just because it is all ice, MISS"
said Thomas. "The streams are full
up-country, and the frozen river down
here is giving the water no outlet.
Half the country between here and
there'll be af1oat before morning"
And then came the dull roar and rum
BILE, the shock, the thrill, the explosion,
once more.
"Why, this is terrible" said l. "It
seems as if elemental things were at
work; as if the earth was splitting and
opening" And while we waited and
shivered, as one after another
OF the great explosions came, the
door opened so quickly as
to make us start, and Mrs. Sawyer
ran in, her face as white as ashes
"a messenger has just gone gallop-
ing BY" she gasped. "My husband
met him. He says the dam at the
falls has been carried away, and the
mayor at Fallstown has sent word by
him to the mayor of Harborbar to
look out for his BRIDGES
"And the explosions" said Bryan,
joining us, for we were all looking out
now, in the late twilight, at the long
glass door opening on the river, above
which purpling mist was hung, lis
the Fallstown people trying to break
up the ice below them with dynamite.
I guess we are in for it,
II don't know what we are going to
do" cried Mrs. Sawyer. "Of course
the moment the ice breaks up and
goes sweeping down it will make for
the first outlet, and that is on these
grass lands-running in here on the
very first low shore along the whole
course OF the river. 1t is terrifying.
II it were only daylight wouldn't
mind 1t 50 much. We could see our
way. We could see what was coming.
We should know where we were and
what to do. But in the dark! You
had better come over to our house,
Nan, and whatever we do we will all
do together. Merciful powers! what
was that?"
1t was only the wind coming up
that strong, sweet south wind. It
had broken a bough from the old elm
that had fallen on the house, and at
the same moment the last explosion
OF the dynamite sounded. But it was
enough. Mrs. Sawyer's words were
ringing in my ears. In the dark all at
once | thought could see the torrent
OF broken ice, the great blocks
and sheets of pointed jaggad ice, lift
ing themselves into one huge wall
and sweeping round the bend and up
the land, pushed by the mighty swell
ing of the tide behind ounting, grind
ing, sweeping across all this low in
terval, over which 1t would crash and
pour and flow, to find the river at a
point below and reach the sea. The
rush OF the great black cold waters
was already upon me- the sound OF
thems1n my ears, the blowing of the
wide dark water breath. I felt my
self a helpless straw before them. [
did not wait an instant. / never
thought of the others. I was not con-
scious OF any thought at all; but |
screamed, and turned and dashed out
of the house and down the lane, as
fast, az breathlessly, as could race,
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